The United Nations has “a moral responsibility” in the deadly cholera outbreak that has killed more than 8,500 Haitians and sickened another 600,000-plus, the head of Haiti’s government said Thursday in his debut before the global body.

With President Michel Martelly among a list of world leaders shirking off an appearance at this year’s U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe used his appearance in the global spotlight to call on the U.N. to do more to help Haiti eradicate what experts are calling the world’s worst cholera outbreak.

“We would like to propose the establishment of a joint commission,” Lamothe said, “to study the ways and means of finding and definitively eradicating this illness in Haiti all together.”

Lamothe’s criticism is the most public pronouncement by a Haitian official yet. After refusing to blame the U.N., the Martelly administration is increasingly joining the ranks of human rights activists, cholera victims and their families, and even some U.N.-hired experts that accuse the organization of responsibility for the outbreak. Despite mounting evidence linking Haiti’s cholera to Nepalese soldiers deployed to the country soon after its Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, the U.N. has refused to take responsibility.

The United Nations has “a moral responsibility” in the deadly cholera outbreak that has killed more than 8,500 Haitians and sickened another 600,000-plus, the head of Haiti’s government said Thursday in his debut before the global body.

With President Michel Martelly among a list of world leaders shirking off an appearance at this year’s U.N. General Assembly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe used his appearance in the global spotlight to call on the U.N. to do more to help Haiti eradicate what experts are calling the world’s worst cholera outbreak.

“We would like to propose the establishment of a joint commission,” Lamothe said, “to study the ways and means of finding and definitively eradicating this illness in Haiti all together.”

Lamothe’s criticism is the most public pronouncement by a Haitian official yet. After refusing to blame the U.N., the Martelly administration is increasingly joining the ranks of human rights activists, cholera victims and their families, and even some U.N.-hired experts that accuse the organization of responsibility for the outbreak. Despite mounting evidence linking Haiti’s cholera to Nepalese soldiers deployed to the country soon after its Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, the U.N. has refused to take responsibility.